Why many Black people are afraid to "snitch"

I won't hold back. There are immense issues in the African-American community regarding violent crime. Yes, this is a pertinent issue. This has been a problem for a long time. Black men have been murdering one another for a long time. It is no wonder that among young males, African-American males have the highest death rate. The #1 cause is not AIDS, heart disease, or drugs. The #1 cause is MURDER. This is all according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, who got the statistics from the Center of Disease Control, Bureau of Justice, and the US Census.

Link to statistics: http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/upload/7541.pdf

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-06-25/news/bs-md-stop-snitching-sentence-20100625_1_snitching-skinny-suge-videos

Young African-American men are getting killed more than anyone else at the hands of other African-American men. I am speaking in terms of blue collar crime. I'll get to white collar crime in another entry. With so much Black on Black violence, one should expect more to be done to ameliorate this problem. This doesn't always work like that. There aren't enough people telling what they know. One would thinkg that the communities with the worst crime would want to "snitch" the most. In fact, violent crime goes on partially BECAUSE no one would be the informant. People are afraid to tell what they know. People are afraid to "snitch".

The rerm "Stop Snitchin" was coined by a rapper named Tangg da Juice in 1999. In 2004, a "Stop Snitchin" campaign was launched in Baltimore with a DVD by Rodney Bethea titled "Stop Snitching! was circulated. In some of the footage there are drug dealers threatening "snitches" with violence. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Baltimore had a murder rate very close to 44 murders per 100,000 residents( 276 murders total in 2004). It probably isn't surprising that Baltimore has had such a problem with violence.





Knowing all of this, why don't more Black people snitch? I could think of a few reasons:

1) Confusion of Loyalty. There are many Black people in the USA who don't to send another Black man to prison, even if that Black person did something to him or her. The mentality could possibly come from the feelingt hat sending another Black man to prison would ruin a fellow Black man's life. well, isn't this the same fellow Black man who is terrorizing you? This "fellow Black man" could not care less about you or your life. The reason is because of the mentality of "I'm getting mine and screw you". It is a nihilist mentality. Why shouldn't you snitch? You would be doing other African-Americans a favor by getting that miscreant off of the streets and behind bars. Black people are the ones who need to snitch the most. It is Black people who are more likely to be murdered than anyone else. Let the criminal rot in prison. Yes, a slim majority of the prison population in African-American. Snitching still needs to be done. If you really want to look at it from a perspective of "race", think of it this way: That Black man who has just killed another Black man has done this to his "fellow Black man". That Black man who just killed another Black man doesn't care about his "fellow Black man". He doesn't care about his fellow man of any race or ethnicity. He doesn't care about anyone. If that person did care, he wouldn't have committed murder.
2)Fear of Retribution. Direct quote from Retired FBI James Bernazzani: "The community won't cooperate because I'm not gonna finger you as that violent felon because if I know you're on the streets in 5 days, guess who the next victim is....ME, and I don't want that".

Watch this clip from The History Channel's Gangland, specifically the 7:01-7:14 segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edpjcz8Jz-I

The fear of retribution is understandable. Criminals will often kill people who "snitch".  Criminals will often do what they want when everyone is scared. One person being an informant is one step in the right direction, but if that person stands alone, yes, death might be very imminent. However, if the whole community stands together and let criminals know "we won't take anymore of your mess", then it will be more effective. People are often afraid to snitch because they stand alone. Dr. king wasn't afraid to stand alone as a man. He also attracted followers. He attracted people to be a part of his movement. However, a "snitch" acts alone because few will stand by him or her. He/she gets called an "Uncle Tom' for it at best and gets killed at the worst. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died a gallant death, as a hero, with so many people who loved him. A "snitch" usually dies alone and forgotten. No streets named for a snitch, no holiday named for a "snitch", just forgotten, but not before getting called "House Negro". He doesn't get a grand funeral like Dr King did. He dies in an alley. No Nobel Peace Prize, barely a thank you. A "snitch" gets chased away, becoming more afraid of his or her community. The "snitch" needs to be a leader, leader people out of the morass of horrors, such as a high murder rate.

Anger Dies Hard: I won't mince words. Many African-Americans do not trust the police, at least not to the same degree that White Americans do. With stuff such as racial profiling, historical abuse from the police, the distrust isn't surprising. Distrust and anger, even with more Black police officers than in the past, are still there. There are many who will not cooperate with the police because of this. However, the only way to combat crime in your community is to cooperate with the police. If the police will not do their jobs correctly, then form neighborhood groups to flush out any criminal that is harming your community. It's a do or die situation. Not all police officers are corrupt and not all of them are out to hurt you. If the police cooperate on their end and help to keep your community safe, that will help you. If the police do nothing, and/or are doing corrupt things, get involved politically. Take to the streets with protests, form neighborhood forces to keep the community safe. Do something. Flush the criminals out.

African-American neighborhoods have a bad reputation in these times as being violent. That must end by flushing out any criminals who live in the community. The fear of retribution from "snitching" needs to end. The fear of being called "Uncle Tom" for "snitching" needs to end. That "Stop Snitching" stuff is a load of crap and it is a detriment for African-Americans, or anyone. It is going to have to start with 'snitching". It is a question of "die a snitch" or "live in fear".

WTF is "acting White"???

"Oreo", "overcooked White boy", "Carlton", "sellout", and oh yes, "acting White" are the kinds of wisecracks some Black youth get insulted with if:

1) He or she doesn't speak Ebonics or said person "talks White" and speaks proper English
2) He or she likes to read books
3) He or she listens to classical music
4) He or she does not live up to what is considered "typical Black behavior" or behaves in a manner that is considered "not Black enough".

Many Black youths get derided for "acting White" if they don't "talk Black". Insults like "oreo", get launched their way. By the way "oreo" is a cookie that is "Black on the outside, White on the inside". I can relate being insulted like that. I am the Black person who has been made fun of for "acting White". I've been called "Carlton"(refers to Carlton Banks from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), "overcooked White boy", and other insults. One girl used to scream "White boy" at me. The irony, however, is that she was a White female. This shows that this isn't just Black people doing this to other Black people. Some White people(from my personal experiences) have done this too. In fact, I have been insulted in college too. This is the irony. I'm in college and I get insulted. A White male college student had this joke to describe me:

The Student: Do you know your father?
Me: Yes
The Student: Does he live with you?
Me: Yes
The Student: Then you're White!!(usually with some laughter from him, not from me).

So apparently, because I have a father, he is still married to my mother, and he is part of my life(as well as the lives of my siblings), somehow, that is "acting White"? WTF!! Some more tidbits: I don't wear FUBU, And1, Ecko, saggy pants, my baseball cap to one side, or large gold chains. I dress preppy, sometimes I wear a suit, I like listening to classical music, NPR, I like to read alot about geography, history, and science. I do many things that are not considered "stereotypically Black". Does that mean I "act White"? Does this make me a "sellout"? Anyone who describes any Black person who loves to read books, dresses presentably, and seeks an education, as a "sellout", let me tell you this" You just called Malcolm X a sellout. You just called Dr. King a sellout. You just called Andrew Young, Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, President Obama, and alot of other extraordinary Black men "sellouts".

Here is the question: WTF is "acting White"? Is it "acting White" when a Black child is highly interested in science, history, and mathematics? Is it "acting White" when a Black child would rather play soccer or tennis instead of basketball or football? Is it "acting White" when a Black person listens to classical music even learned to play the violin? Is it "acting White" when a Black person uses words like "repugnant", "insipid" and pronounces the word "ask" properly instead of saying "axe"?

Are you going to call a Black person a "sellout" because he or she doesn't speak Ebonics? If "acting Black" means acting ignorant, wearing saggy pants, getting subpar grades in school, being a deadbeat father, not having a father, speaking in a manner that is not eloquent, and deriding other Black people for "not acting Black enough", then I don't want it. Since when has reading, listening to classical music, speaking proper English, wearing ones trousers the correct way, "acting White"? Why should it only be considered for White people to act in this manner?

Something to understand: When you cut down Black people in such a manner, especially the youth, it makes things harder for Black people who want success. To get a better idea of the high cost, think of this. The Black kid who gets beaten up for reading books and for basically "acting White", it is cutting down that person's self-esteem, making that person not want to strive harder. A Black kid is going to have it harder to begin with, but getting torn down by other Black children, and basically anyone else for "not acting Black enough" is going to make things worse. Some of these kids who could be the next "Guion Bluford", the next great Black inventor, doctor, astronaut, engineer,etc., could end up giving up and becoming just another statistic among many. It could happen, and that is disturbing. That child needs to be built up and encouraged.

NYPD officer caught using the "n" word

A week ago,it was discovered that  NYPD police officer Michael Daragjati was caught saying "I fried a nigger" after wrongly arresting two African-American men. This event transpired last April and was   After hearing more about the issue, it has now been shown that New York City has officially become a police state, and police officers can get away with anything. Lately, the "Stop and Frisk" method was used by police officers a record over 600,000 times last year. What was found is that the majority of those frisks were for "furtive movement" and "wearing clothes/disguises commonly used in committing crime". In short, for dressing a certain way and for walking a certain way, a person will get frisked. Sounds like a police state to me. The majority of these frisks are done and Black and Hispanic residents. You would think with the number of frisks done towards African-Americans and Hispanics, the crime rate among both groups would be dropping quickly. Not the case. One man, Jesus Rodriguez, commented about being frisked because he was "saying hello to someone who might be a drug dealer". So he said hello do someone who "might" be a drug dealer. He had a point when he said "frisk the drug dealer". This right here might be why many of the drug dealers aren't getting caught. The move made against Rodriguez was a coward move. This was cowardice, and an embarrassment to the police officers out there who do their job fairly and actually are effective in making a community strong.

It doesn't shock me about the racism in NYC as far as the police department is concerned. This stuff has been going on for years. It just shows what a police state can look like.Shows the levels of racism. I am at a loss for words because I have grown cynical. All I can say is that this kind of policing will not make law-abiding citizens comfortable about living in New York City. It will not make African-Americans and Hispanics in NYC trust the police. If anything, this will create a rift between the communities and the police. This cannot be effective. This isn't effective in fighting crime. The "Stop and Frisk" method would make me not want to live in a place. I don't want to be harassed by police officers either.
The police officer who was claiming that he "fried a nigger" should be imprisoned for this. Bringing up false charges and using a racial slur, claiming to have "fried" someone just proves that the idea was specifically to put a Black man in jail for no reason, other than being Black.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/17/2011-10-17_nypd_cop_michael_daragjati_taped_making_racial_slurs_about_black_man_accused_of_.html

My take on Steve Sailer's article about Black imprisonment by state.

I had a chance to surf the internet today. I came across a few articles by a blooger by the name of Steve Sailer. Personally, I disagree with his content. Most of it deals with race from a stance of "eugenices" "realism" and other stances that are pretty much racist. I look at an article about the imprisonment rate of African-Americans throughout the USA.What I found was his theory on the roots of Black violence.

There is a book by Fox Buttefield called All God's Children .  According to this book, the roots of Black violence come from the violence perpetrated by White people in the South. Sailer's rebuttal this this argument has been that Blacks in the South tend to have a fewer percentage of its population in prison that in the Mid-Atlantic states(DC to New York) and the Upper Midwest(Iowa, Wisconsin,Minnesota). Well, this is my rebuttal. It is important to note that today, most African-Americans that are moving to the South tend to be more educated and make more money, therefore, less likely to engage in criminal activity. In Wisconsin, there has been a "Black Brain Drain" from the state: http://host.madison.com/business/article_a35bd3ed-f094-50e7-b321-a8d68b4def4f.html

With the best and brightest African-Americans leaving Wisconsin for better opportunities elsewhere, this wherever those African-Americans go, they will be an asset. On the other hand, many of the African-Americans who are left behind are not as well educated, much poorer, and more likely to engage in criminal activity. Up until the 1940's, Milwaukee,WI had a relatively small Black population. More Blacks started going to Milwaukee for the factory jobs, as many African-Americans did in other major cities. Those jobs started to dry up in the 1970's and the 1980's. It is important to note that Milwaukee had a large proportion of African-Americans working in the factories, among the largest in the USA after Detroit. Once the factories closed down, the Black unemployment rate skyrocketed. Suddenly, Blacks in Milwaukee had among the the highest unemployment rates in the USA. Around the 1980's, gangs from Chicago started recruiting in Milwaukee. For Chicago gangs, Milwaukee was like virgin forests. Relatively small drug market, not much organized gang activity, unemployed African-American youths feeling hopeless. This made it all too easy to recruit people for gangs, especially the Gangster Disciples.  Criminal activity skyrocketed as well because this was the drug epidemic. The 1980's was the big turning point for Milwaukee. The Gangster Disciples also did heavy recruiting in Des Moines, Iowa. Yes, in a city that is around 10 percent African-American, the Gangster Disciples went there, to Iowa, the corn belt of all places.. Iowa in general has a Black population around 3 percent. However, being close to Illinois, where Chicago is, gangs have gone out there for untapped drug markets. With a relatively poor Black population compared to the White population, gangs started recruiting there, and people were enticed by the so-called "glamours" of gang life. The same case with Minnesota. African-Americans started moving to the Twin Cities to get away from the violence in Chicago and Detroit. However, gangs, lured by a virgin drug market, went out there too. Minneapolis went from being one the safest cities in the USA to "Murderapolis" in 1995 because gangs went out there. The reason places like Upper Midwest have the highest incarceration rates among African-Americans is due to a gangs moving to those states and committing violent crimes, recruiting more people to commit acts of violence, and there is another thing to understand: These states have a low PERCENTAGE of African-Americans. The low percentage of African-Americans(between 3-6 percent) skews the numbers a bit.

The South, on the other hand, is not attracting large numbers of African-American gang members. Although gangs exist here, this isn't a virgin drug market, especially Atlanta. Most African-Americans moving to the South are educated and more able to support themselves. This reduces the overall likelihood of criminal behavior. The South has historically been the most violent region in the USA, and that continues today. The South also has the highest percentage of Whites in incarceration. There is still alot of violence committed by African-Americans. The murder capital of the USA is in the South,   which is New Orleans. Memphis and Birmingham have issues too.